


Looking for Woodworms

by A_Reflective_Projection



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: All-Knowing Gwen, Arthur Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), BAMF Merlin (Merlin), Court Sorcerer Merlin (Merlin), Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Humor, I think this is funny, King Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Mildly Annoyed Arthur, Oblivious Merlin (Merlin), Queen Gwen (Merlin), Who doesn't post at midnight?, Woodworms, hope you enjoy :), me this time it's 7pm good job me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:53:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25983916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Reflective_Projection/pseuds/A_Reflective_Projection
Summary: It’s not always giant secrets that end up causing problems, sometimes it’s the little white lies.OrCamelot's lords are really concerned about some non-existent woodworms.
Relationships: Gwen/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 185





	Looking for Woodworms

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FirelightLion](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FirelightLion/gifts).



> My first Merlin fanfic of hopefully more to come. I watched the show when it was airing but didn’t get into the fandom until recently, so I realize this is years too late for the fandom but hey, you write what you want to write. Hope you enjoy!   
> PS: I've held off posting this for a while but then I saw the Merlin's works count at 39999 and couldn't resist.

The first time Merlin used the excuse he hadn’t really thought much about it. He had been looking for some keys, or maybe a hidden amulet, or was it a ripped dress to match some fabric? Anyway, Merlin got caught in semi-compromising situations so often that he really couldn't be bothered to think out new excuses every time. He’d said he was looking for woodworms once... and it worked. 

It was a simple and easy excuse, so it might have accidentally become his default. It wasn’t like he could tell Arthur he was actually there to stop a curse, defeat an assassin or find a traitor. Really, in comparison, looking for grubby insects in the wood seemed like a plausible idea. 

He didn’t think he’d used the excuse  _ too  _ much. Merlin tended to be rather creative with his excuses and when all else failed he just ended up insulting Arthur, getting called an idiot and then being on his merry way, most of the time even avoiding the stocks (thou not the stables) for his trouble. 

After the Battle of Camlann, Morgana and Mordred’s defeat and the revelation of his magic, he’d all but forgotten the little white lie used to cover up all his investigation work. 

Oh sure, he’d told Arthur all the stories. Even shared most of them with the round table, much to Gawain's endless delight and Arthur's perpetual annoyance (really it’s not like it was his fault that he attracted murder plots like moths to a flame). And so they’d learned about the dragons and evil witches and all the steps in long coming betrayals. They’d heard the tales behind each of Merlin’s scars, even the ones that really were just from tripping over his own two feet. 

He didn’t have secrets anymore. At least not from them, not from Arthur. So it came as a surprise when one evening he was having dinner with Arthur and Gwen that the long forgotten topic of woodworms came up again. 

“Do you think there’s something you could do about it?” Arthur asked, looking over at him. 

Merlin blinked, not having heard a word Arthur had been saying, instead thinking about the lesson plans for his magic class tomorrow. It was the Advanced Curses and their Counters class and they were actually going to try and break a few that were still lingering over Camelot. Really it was quite interesting and delicate work-

“Merlin,” Arthur huffed in exasperation, “The woodworms, can you do anything about them?”

Merlin frowned, confused, and glanced over at Gwen for context but she was bringing her goblet up and looking like she was trying to suppress the smile, so that didn’t help much. Clearing his throat Merlin asked, “Sorry, what about woodworms?”

Arthur rolled his eyes as he answered, “The woodworm infestation in the castle  _ Mer _ lin, Lord Alfred brought it up yesterday. He seemed very upset about it and the other Lords confirmed they’d been having problems for quite a while as well. God knows you should be an expert on woodworms, given how many times you’ve been looking for them in the past.”

At one point Merlin would have gotten it immediately, taken the out and started babbling about the dangers of woodworms and the protections that must be taken against them. But as it was he’d gotten comfortable, he wasn’t used to lying to Arthur anymore. He was used to speaking his mind and being treated with respect. And honestly, it had been a while since he’d thought about his life as a servant. Between helping Arthur rewrite the laws of Camelot, cataloging the magical library, traveling on diplomatic missions to the druids and other kingdoms, creating a magical school and continuing to protect Camelot and its trouble prone King… he’d been a bit preoccupied.

So instead he said, “Camelot’s castle and most of the outer walls were built with the help of Cornelius Sigan who placed numerous protection wards into it during its construction. I know I saw a few pest repelling ones when I looked over the ward matrix and reactivated some of the dormant ones, so I don’t see why they would be having a problem now. Nothing has shifted recently but I guess I can check and see if something is weakening it.”

Arthur blinked at him non-pulsed as Gwen burst into giggles. The two men at the table turned around to stare at her with various degrees of confusion. 

Once she’d had a few seconds to calm down Gwen smiled over at Merlin indulgently. “You really don’t remember do you?” she asked. 

“What?” Merlin asked bewildered, as Arthur turned to glare at him as if this was somehow his fault. 

Gwen giggled again. “The woodworms,” she explained with a grin. “They were your go-to excuse whenever you were caught snooping around. Of course none of us servants ever believed it, actually knowing what woodworms are and all, but it seemed to keep you out of trouble so we all let it slide. Poor George insisted on following up on every accusation even though he never actually found any woodworms, bless his heart.” She attempted to sound sympathetic but the grin still plastered on her face said otherwise. 

Arthur turned to now truly glare at Merlin who looked sheepish, distant memories of annoying guards and nosy nobles drifting to the front of his mind. In his defense he typically had more pressing matters to think about during those times then the non-existent worms he used as an excuse. As long as they left him to his snooping, he didn’t care. 

“Oops?” Merlin shrugged.

“Ok wait, all the servants knew Merlin was sneaking around and no one said anything?” Arthur said, aggravated.

Gwen nodded. “It was Merlin, Arthur,” she said as if that explained anything and really it did. “No one said anything because if it was Merlin poking around we figured he probably had a good reason for it. You might not have noticed but that didn’t mean the rest of the castle was oblivious to the fact that he often knew what was going on before even the King did. I suppose most people just assumed he was doing the leg work of investigations for Gaius, which really wasn’t too far from the truth,” She winked at them. 

Arthur scowled as Merlin grinned. “In my defense,” the warlock exclaimed, “I typically was looking for something important.”

Huffing as he crossed his arms, Arthur exclaimed, “Fine! But that doesn’t explain why ‘woodworms’ are coming up now, if this idiot was the one who started the rumor!” 

Gwen rolled her eyes and swatted her husband lightly in annoyance, “The phrase caught on. Whenever someone was caught somewhere they weren’t supposed to be suddenly they were just ‘looking for woodworms.’ It became code for pranks too. Whenever one of the more annoying lords came by there would be a plan to ‘look for woodworms’ in their room that often resulted in some less than pleasant surprises being left behind.” 

“Unbelievable,” Arthur grumbled half-halfheartedly, as Merlin laughed at him. 

“I’ll ask around and get people to stop using it so often or at least make sure those using it are really just pulling pranks and not anyone unsavory getting out of trouble,” Merlin promised. 

The servants had been a little wary of him right after his promotion but a few simple charms to keep buckets and plates ever warm, and tripping over his own feet a few times, had convinced them he was still the same person. Bygones were bygones and he’d been welcomed back into the fold. (Though not without some teasing as to if he actually knew how to do some of his old chores. Hint: he did not in fact know how to get wine out of a white shirt, because apparently magic was cheating, regardless of how many people still asked him to do it).

“Yes yes fine,” Arthur said. “I’ll tell the Lords it’s being taken care of and as long as they don’t hear about it again they’ll probably forget anyway. They’re not happy their older views are becoming obsolete and are really just looking for something to complain about.”

“Oh so like you then,” Merlin said cheekily and laughed, dodging the full goblet of wine thrown at him. _ Some things never change _ . He thought. 

_ Though _ , Merlin mused, rewinding the goblet’s course with a flash of his eyes so it jumped back onto the table, wine and all perfectly intact,  _ sometimes they do get better _ . 

**Author's Note:**

> If I write more Merlin fic’s in the future, I’ll link them below but this is it for now.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it and be sure to leave a comment to feed my soul!


End file.
